These covers’ digital painted look have always felt a little wonky to me, but this one is particularly wonky. Well, we have a cliffhanger to resolve, so…
Biiiit of a cheat, boys!
Bad poops solves anything. Next day, as some PR lady from Kraven’s team tells the kids to just act natural and go about their day when he gets there (Flash is clearly not gonna be able to do that), Peter & MJ confer. He looks a little better, and tells MJ he ran out of the house before May could see him today. Maybe he can run from May, but he can’t run from Gwen, who wants to know what happened and if a bully did this. Peter gives a lame “I fell” excuse and drags MJ into it, and then Kraven shows up before the discussion can proceed.
Ultimate Gwen was, obviously, an instant favorite amongst readers. Later, MJ brings over a brand new Spidey shirt she made, and it’s perfect. Not so perfect is her mounting jealousy about Gwen. She asks Peter what he thinks of her, and he says she’s “kind of screwy,” but at least more interesting than anyone else they know. This proves the wrong answer, as a miffed MJ leaves immediately. Teens! We wheel over to find Justin Hammer headed up to his wrecked penthouse, his assistants fending off calls from news organizations (And from Dr. Skritc, who is very mad at). He’s worried SHIELD has stopped coming around, because while he doesn’t want them around, their lack of interest seems alarming. As the elevator opens, he says this day is going rather badly, and someone says “How do you think I feel?”
Great gag.
$50,000 feels like a real lowball offer in this situation. Skrtic just sits there, saying nothing, until it’s revealed that Ock has killed him and is just puppeting him for the camera. Ock says this is all revenge for his condition, and Hammer says (Rather correctly) that he had nothing to do with it and has no idea what happened. Ock says to come meet him at the lab. Hammer says Ock gets nothing if he dies. Ock says he understands. So, then, Hammer’s in a limo with his assistants an guards, unaware that Spider-Man is on the roof.
Well, Betty got a lot farther with Kraven than you’d expect.
An unexpected play from Doc Ock! Hammer’s in a fix now. Not the usual kind of cliffhanger around here. We’ll see how this press conference plays out next time.